Vanessa Hudgens attempted some method acting in her upcoming movie “Gimme Shelter,” living in a homeless shelter for two weeks as research and cutting her own hair to look the part.

Hudgens, who is more known for fluffy hits like “High School Musical” than for serious acting, tells “The Rachael Ray Show” that it was important to her to nail her role as a pregnant teen who runs away from home.

“My character ends up at this pregnant, homeless teen shelter that’s in New Jersey. I actually went and stayed in a shelter for two weeks before I started filming,” Hudgens said in an interview that aired today. “I lived there with all the girls, with all the kids.”

Hudgens also explained that it wasn’t a stylist who cut off her signature long locks for the part.

“I actually cut my own hair for this movie,” she said. “I did that to myself, yes I did.”

In the film, Rosario Dawson plays Hudgens’ drug addict mother.

“We both look so messed up in this movie,” explains Hudgens. “My manager manages me and Rosario, and he’s like, ‘What happened to my girls?'”

But in the end, Hudgens said she was glad to have gone to such lengths for the film.

“It’s really empowering and it’s fun pushing yourself as far as you can,” she said. “I think that it’s really interesting because you find so much more about yourself.”